Connect

News & Public Affairs

Pinellas County residents could hear about the Hometown Democracy Amendment in Dunedin on May 21st. If this amendment is adopted, local governments will have to summarize their comprehensive land use plans for residents in 75 words, and residents will have a final veto on comprehensive land use plans in cities. Currently, city commissioners decide on the comprehensive land use.

You just heard about the supplemental war spending bill and Democratic Orlando-area US Representative Alan Graysonâs âWar is Making You Poorâ Act. While some say the bill has no chance of passing, it does have bipartisan support. Friday Grayson said what the âWar is Making you Poorâ Act would do.

He said the 90% of the supplemental spending bill would go directly to taxpayers.

The rest of the money, Grayson said, would go toward shrinking the federal debt.

Riki Ott, a marine biologist with a specialty in oil pollution and a fisherwoman, discussed the Gulf Oil blowout.

Ott has been in the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, Mississippii and Alabama since May 3. She has been out in the gulf and has observed the effects of the cleanup on the workers. With her experience being in Cordova Alaska as a fisherwoman before, during and after the Exxon Valdez spill, she observes the Gulf with a very experienced and knowledgeable eye.

A local band makes good! Kore-a local rock band composed of three moms with young children was chosen Mamapalooza's band of the year and will be the headliner at the annual Mamapalooza concert in Riverside Park in New York City on May 23. Mamapalooza is a national organization which promotes moms in all kinds of endeavors. Joy Rose the founder of Mamapalooza tries to create an environment of empowerment and support for moms and help define what it means to be a modern mother. The annual fe...

Eurydice's Karla Hartley and lead actress Dahlia Legault will discuss the play by Sarah Ruhl. Have you ever thought of how a woman might interpret this ancient mythology? Sarah Ruhl, one of our most performed and honored contemporary playwrights, sees the myth from a daughter's perspective on marriage and control. The play is being staged by Stageworks and is running at the Shimberg Playhouse at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center from may 13-30.Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm; Sunday ...

The gigantic plume of oil that has reportedly formed under the surface of the Gulf may be stealing headlines, but a smaller chemical plume is menacing some Tampa Bay area residents. For years, defense contractor Raytheon dumped toxic waste into an on-site pond. That waste seeped into the groundwater, which sits beneath St. Petersburgâs Azalea neighborhood.

When the story broke in 2008, nearly twenty years after officials knew about it, residents were outraged. Raytheon proposed a cleanu...

Republican State Senator Paula Dockery spoke at the Tiger Bay Club in St. Petersburg this afternoon as she begins her run in the gubernatorial GOP primary. Dockery is facing off against Attorney General Bill McCollum and wildcard Naples millionaire Rick Scott. Currently, Dockery has a ways to go in early voter GOP primary polls, which show the relatively unknown Scott with 22% and McCollum with 46%. Dockery, who in the same poll had only 3% of the vote, says that politics remains a game of mo...

Sarah Palin and other leaders of the conservative tea party movement often accuse the mainstream media of having a liberal bias. In this monthâs issue of Extra, a publication put out by the media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), Peter Hart, the organizationâs Activism Director, authored a piece titled Journalists Heart the Tea Party.

WMNF spoke with Hart about the mainstream news outletsâ coverage of the tea party movement. He said the movement itself originated ...

Next up: weâll hear about another possible non-toxic solution to the oil disaster. On Tuesday we heard from a Sarasota company who says they have a bacteria that will eat the oil and turn it into harmless substances.

Today: could the oil slick be cleaned up using ordinary hay? Thatâs what a Florida road-building company says is possible. Thereâs a video posted on our website that demonstrates how the...

First up today: we're almost out of the dry season, and soon the rains will begin to replenish the dams, reservoirs and groundwater that the millions of Tampa Bay residents rely on for drinking, cooking, washing and watering their lawns.

We're joined now by T. Barton (Bart) Weiss, the Division Director of the Water Resource Team of Hillsborough County Water Resource Services for Hillsborough County Strategic Water Management. Bart is a registered professional geologist and has 15 years ...

The Hillsborough County Commission met earlier today to hear an update of the oil spill and the likelihood of potential impacts on Tampa Bay. They also discussed preventing damage to Tampa Bay from a major on-shore pollution source â that is, residential fertilizers.

In August of 1993, a freighter and two barges collided, dumping over 360,000 gallons of oil, jet fuel and gasoline into Tampa Bay. Tampa Bayâs worst oil spill contaminated 13 miles of beaches and injured sea turtles, bir...

In St. Petersburg today, students and environmental groups held a memorial service and rally to mark the one month anniversary of the BP oil disaster that continues to spew oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Andrew Bell, clergyman of the United Methodist Church, said a few words before reading off the names of the eleven workers were were lost when the Deepwater Horizon Oil platform exploded one month ago.

One of the organizers of the event, Kate Melges of Greenpeace, explained what her group is d...

While the image of oil covering Floridaâs beaches may not be reality, it is already causing people to cancel their visits to Florida. To help combat this, BP pledged to give Florida $25 million to convince the rest of the world that its beaches are clean. Today Democratic US Representative and Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek sent a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward asking him to up that number four-fold.

Meek said that he expects an effective marketing campaign, which would blanket cities like ...

Members of the public were also allowed to comment at today's emergency meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Captain Pat Kelly of the Florida Guides Association thinks the media are overplaying the current threat to Florida's coasts at the detriment of the fishing industry.

Captain Kelly reminded the press that the Fishing Industry is a large part of Florida's economy.

However, Gulf Coast Preservationist Susan McMillan believes that it's possible that the am...

As reports of tar balls washing up on Florida's coast spread today, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission held an emergency meeting this morning at the Tradewinds resort on St. Pete Beach to discuss the agency's ongoing response to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Chairman Rodney Barreto told WMNF that he called the meeting to dispel false rumors and growing fears that Florida is in imminent danger from oil coming ashore or immediately effecting fis...